Religiosity and Attitudes towards Health, Disease, Death and the Use of Stimulants among Jehovah’s Witnesses

Klaudia Jakubowska, Paweł Chruściel, Krzysztof Jurek, Michał Machul, Aneta Kościołek and Beata Dobrowolska
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Klaudia Jakubowska: Department of Development in Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, Medical University of Lublin, 20-081 Lublin, Poland
Paweł Chruściel: Department of Development in Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, Medical University of Lublin, 20-081 Lublin, Poland
Krzysztof Jurek: Institute of Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences, John Paul II Catholic University, 20-950 Lublin, Poland
Michał Machul: Department of Management in Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, Medical University of Lublin, 20-081 Lublin, Poland
Aneta Kościołek: Department of Development in Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, Medical University of Lublin, 20-081 Lublin, Poland
Beata Dobrowolska: Department of Management in Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, Medical University of Lublin, 20-081 Lublin, Poland

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 10, 1-12

Abstract: Religiosity is considered as one of the many factors shaping an individual’s health consciousness. The aim of the study is an analysis of the correlation between the religiosity of Jehovah’s Witnesses and their attitudes towards health and disease. A cross-sectional study was performed on the convenience sample of 171 Jehovah’s Witnesses from eastern Poland with the use of two research tools: the author’s questionnaire, focusing on attitudes towards health, disease, death and the use of stimulants, and the Duke University Religion Index (DUREL). The research involved 99 females (57.9%) and 72 males (42.1%), with an average age of 37.25 (SD = 12.59) years. On average, they have been a Jehovah’s Witness for 29.21 (SD = 13.22) years and are characterised by a high ratio of organisational religious activity (ORA) (M = 5.60; SD = 0.62) and intrinsic religiosity (IR) (M = 4.81; SD = 0.37). Those who had never smoked before becoming one of Jehovah’s Witnesses had a higher IR (Z = ?2.822; p = 0.005), similarly to those respondents who smoked cigarettes before they became Jehovah’s Witnesses (Z = ?2.977; p = 0.003) and those who did not abuse alcohol before they became Jehovah’s Witnesses (Z= ?1.974; p = 0.048). Jehovah’s Witnesses are a group characterised by a high degree of consistency when it comes to religiosity, attitudes regarding health and disease and health behaviours. This means that they follow the teachings of their religion with regard to health issues. Knowledge about the association between religiosity and health behaviours is important to provide effective health education, health promotion and development of health prevention policy, specifically when dealing with more religious groups of clients.

Keywords: religiosity; attitudes; health; disease; death; alcohol drinking; cigarettes smoking; Jehovah’s Witnesses (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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